Inmates Sew Pillowcases for Kids With Cancer9/6/2011Your4State.com

Cresaptown, MD - The inmates at the Western Correctional Institution in Cresaptown are working to help kids with cancer. While some have been convicted of very serious crimes, they're now wielding a needle and thread for a good cause.

Hazard Wilson learned to sew almost 21 years ago. That's when he went to prison on a life sentence for murder.

"Everybody has some misconception that everybody who's locked up is a monster," says Wilson. "But we have feelings also, and we really like to do everything we can for the children."

Now he's making pillowcases that will be given to kids fighting cancer.

It's a cause that hits him hard. He lost a child he loved to the disease.

"She was my friend's daughter," he says. "She was seven years old at the time and she didn't last very long because they didn't catch it in time and she just didn't make it."

The organization ConKerr Cancer started the project to brighten children's hospital rooms.

Just six inmates have been working on 2,000 pillowcases since last September. They're using skills they learned in prison to give back to the community.

In the past three years, the inmates at Western Correctional Institution have made 5,000 pillow cases.

"The children love the pillowcases," says Cindy Kerr, founder of ConKerr Cancer. "It lets them know someone cares about them as they're going through treatment."

"I have a great deal of the population here that want to give back to the community, one way or another," says warden Phil Morgan.

In prison, everything is measured by time served. But with this work, inmates can measure their success in a child's comfort.